Hyderabad: Hyderabad, which was once famous as a city of gardens, with several places still carrying the ‘bagh’ as a prefix or a suffix (Bagh Amberpet, Basheerbagh etc), on Thursday earned international recognition as one of the 51 ‘Tree Cities of the World’.
Hyderabad is the only city from India to earn the Arbor Day Foundation’s 2020 Tree City of the World award. Hyderabad has found a place in this illustrious and aspiration-worthy list as a consequence following its commitment to growing and maintaining urban forests.
Most other cities that earned this recognition are from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, with others being from South America, Europe and Africa.
Celebrating this recognition, municipal administration and urban development minister K.T. Rama Rao, in a tweet, said this latest recognition to Hyderabad is an “acknowledgment of our efforts to improve green cover, as part of Haritha Haaram progamme.”
Congratulating Hyderabad on earning the 2020 Tree Cities of the World recognition, alongside 120 cities from 63 countries, which have earned this status in the past two years, Arbor Day Foundation President Dan Lambe said, “your city (Hyderabad) is part of an important global network leading the way in urban and community forestry.”
Lambe further said, “now, more than ever, trees and forests are a vital component of healthy, liveable, and sustainable cities and towns around the globe. Hyderabad’s commitment to effective urban forest management is helping to ensure a better future for its residents.”
The global recognition comes for Hyderabad fortuitously a day after the city led the state in celebrating the birthday of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, marked by an initiative to plant one crore saplings to mark the day, an initiative led by Parliamentarian J. Santosh.
